Dynamics 365 Marketing: how to set up global double opt-in

Data collection poses more risks than benefits – according to research from 2019, that is true for a majority of Americans when they think of their privacy and personal data in regard to being tracked and monitored by companies (and the government) during their online and offline activities. 

However, there is a demand by people for personalized marketing messages, too, and personalized marketing requires – you guessed it – data above anything else. 

The least companies can do, therefore, is to make their privacy policy clear, especially when users share information as valuable to companies as their e-mail addresses. 

What is a double opt-in? 

 Marketers are usually hard to convince when it comes to setting up a double opt-in as opposed to a single opt-in. But first, let’s establish what a single opt-in and a double opt-in is: 

•  Single opt-ins are self-explanatory, really: you provide users with a subscription form for your e-mail list, they fill in their e-mail address and that’s it, they’re a subscriber. 
• Double opt-ins require users to confirm their e-mail address via a link in a confirmation e-mail they’ll receive from you after filling in your form. If users only follow the first step of your double opt-in, their subscription is not yet activated.

Often, the argument against a double opt-in is along the lines of: “Users don’t like to take the extra step of confirming their e-mail address – the opting-in part  –, which will leave us with fewer subscribers.” While that can be true, the additional opt-in step will a) reduce the number of spam accounts on your e-mail list and b) leave you with a more committed lead, as they chose to become part of your e-mail list and receive your targeted, personalized content. 

How to: global level double opt-in  

• Setting up a double opt-in in the Dynamics 365 Marketing tool means that both your new and existing contacts will receive a confirmation message either upon joining your e-mail list (new contact) or to adjust their consent level (existing contact). 
• The e-mail includes a link the contact must click to confirm their request. The link will open a web browser and a coded URL identify your contact to send a request message to Dynamics 365 Marketing. 
• Upon the tool registering the click, the subscription or consent change is applied and immediately redirects your contact to a thank you page.

Note: Your contact has 30 days to click the link in the confirmation e-mail. 

Subscription confirmation request message 

Each time a user subscribes to your newsletter, a subscription confirmation message is sent out to them. Here’s how to create one:  

1. Go to “Marketing execution” > “Marketing e-mails” to open the marketing e-mail list view. 
2. Select “New” to create a new message. 
3. In the “Select an e-mail template” window, go to the “Filter” tab, select the “Purpose” dropdown, and choose Double opt-in, e-mail base confirmation from the drop-down list there. 
4. Select the custonaci or diamante template (or another template created by your organization for this purpose), which is already prepared with the following:
   • A confirmation button preconfigured with the required target URL (as a Handlebars expression). 
   • The Content type set to Confirmation request. 
   • The Legal designation set to Transactional. 
   • Default content that includes Handlebars expressions to place the recommended dynamic content. 
5. Customize the message as needed. 
6. Review for errors and go live. 

 Consent confirmation request message 

1.  Go to “Marketing execution” > “Marketing e-mails” to open the marketing e-mail list view. 
2. Select “New” to create a new message. 
3. In the “Select an e-mail template” window, go to the “Purpose” tab and chose Double opt-in, e-mail base confirmation from the drop-down list there. 
4. Select the custonaci template (or another template created by your organization for this purpose), which is already prepared with the following:
   • Default content that includes Handlebars expressions to place the recommended dynamic content.
   • A confirmation button preconfigured with the required target URL (as a Handlebars expression).
   • The Content type set to Confirmation request.
   • The Legal designation set to Transactional. 
5. Customize the message as needed. 
6. Review for errors and go live. 

Content-settings record for confirmation request messages 

Consent messages are often sent outside the context of a customer journey, which is why you must have a content-settings record available for use with them. There are two options:  

• you have one content-settings record set up for your system which you already use for all your customer journeys, or 
• you have several different ones for use in different contexts. 

Review your content-setting records and decide which to use, or create a new one if needed. The content-settings record you choose will apply to all confirmation request messages when you set up the global double opt-in later. 

Thank-you page for each type of confirmation 

Dynamics 365 Marketing redirects your contact to a thank-you page once they click the confirmation link in the confirmation e-mail. In order for this to work, you need to create a thank-you page as a marketing page in Dynamics 365 Marketing. Use a template to help you get started! 

Global double opt-in on your instance 

 Once you have completed all previous steps, it’s time to set up the double opt-in in your system:  

1. Go to “Settings” > “Advanced Settings” > “Marketing Settings” > “Default marketing settings.” 
2. A list of default settings records opens. Usually there will be just one record here. Open the available record—or the one that is currently active (which has its Default field set to Yes).
3. Open the Double opt-in tab on the Default marketing settings page. 
4. Make the following settings:
   • Enable double opt-in: Set to Yes to enable global double opt-in on your instance. Set to No to disable it.
   • Subscriptions: Identify the marketing e-mail message you created to send to contacts when they add themselves to a subscription list.
   • Consent: Identify the marketing e-mail message you created to send to contacts when they submit a request to increase their consent level.
   • Thank-you page for newsletters: Select a marketing page to show to contacts after they confirm a new subscription.
   • Thank-you page: Select a marketing page to show to contacts after they confirm an increase of their consent level.
   • Content settings: Identify the content-settings record you chose to use for all double opt-in messages.
5.  Select the “Save” button in the bottom-right corner to save your settings. 

How to: form level double opt-in 

Subscription confirmation-request message  

1. Go to “Marketing execution” > “Marketing e-mails” to open the marketing e-mail list view. 
2. Select “New” to create a new message. 
3. In the “Select an e-mail template” window, go to the Filter tab, select the Purpose dropdown, and choose Double opt-in, e-mail base confirmation from the drop-down list there. 
4. Select the form-doubleoptin (or another template created by your organization for this purpose), which is already prepared with the following content:
   • Default content that includes Handlebars expressions to place the recommended dynamic content.
   • A confirmation button preconfigured with the required target URL (as a Handlebars expression).
   • The Content type set to Confirmation request.
   • The Legal designation set to Transactional.
5. Customize the message as needed. 
6. Review for errors and go live. 

Consent form 

1.  Go to Marketing > Internet marketing > Marketing forms to open the marketing forms list view. 
2. Select New to create a new form. 
3. In the Marketing form templates window, go to the Filter tab, and select the Purpose dropdown. You can choose any Form type except Forward to a friend.
4. Go to the Toolbox tab and add any Subscription lists by dragging and dropping any list name into the form. 
5. Click on the Summary tab at the top of the editor. 
6. Go to Form level double opt-In > Enable double opt-In and set the toggle to Yes. 
7. Under Confirmation e-mail, choose the confirmation-request e-mail message you created in the previous section. 
8. Choose the Content settings. Unless otherwise needed, you can choose Default Content Settings. 
9. How to say thank you allows you to choose which page opens after the customer clicks the confirmation button in the e-mail. You can choose a marketing page, or you can choose a custom webpage. If you choose the Open the marketing page after confirmation option, select which page to open under the Marketing Page section. Thank you marketing page templates are provided out-of-the-box to help get you started. If you choose the Open the web page after confirmation option, enter a URL in the Thank you Web Page section. 
10. Review for errors and go live. 
11. You can use your newly created form on a marketing page or embedded on an external website. 

Conclusion 

If you want to keep pursuing personalized marketing as well as up to date, you need to tackle the rising privacy concerns of users head on and reassure them they can trust you with their data. Now you know why you should include a double opt-in in your strategy and how to set it up in your Dynamics 365 Marketing tool.  

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